"You..." Lan Haiping was a bit speechless.
As the former number one on the Earth Ranking, even though Xiao Fan had yielded his rank to Duan Wudi, he was still qualified to challenge the next person. And the tenth place on the heavenly ranking was precisely within Xiao Fan's challenging range.
"Zhang Hao, do you dare to accept the challenge?" Xiao Fan floated in the void, staring at Zhang Hao, and said in a cold voice.
Zhang Hao narrowed his eyes, staring at Xiao Fan in front of him, his expression extremely gloomy. This Xiao Fan deliberately said this in front of everyone, clearly forcing him, leaving him no way out. His intentions were extremely malicious.
However, Xiao Fan's challenge was exactly what he wanted. He had long hated Xiao Fan to the bone. If he had the chance to kill him legitimately, he would not want to miss it.
"Zhang Hao, don't agree to him."
Lan Haiping, who was on the side, had been observing Zhang Hao's expression. At this moment, upon seeing his moved expression, he quickly tried to dissuade him.
"President Lan, please don't try to dissuade me anymore. If I refuse at this time, it will only tarnish my martial heart. Do you think I have any way out?" Zhang Hao looked at Lan Haiping and said lightly.
Lan Haiping sighed. He naturally knew the consequences if Zhang Hao refused the opponent's challenge at this moment. He stopped talking. The path was chosen by the person, and he could only respect Zhang Hao's wishes.
"I accept your challenge." Zhang Hao looked at Xiao Fan.
Xiao Fan took a deep look at Zhang Hao, nodded, and said, "Very good, consider yourself brave. However, for this challenge, I hope it is set on the College's Life and Death Stage. I want all the students of Tianwu Academy to watch how you lie in front of me like a dead dog."
Zhang Hao laughed heartily and said, "Xiao Fan, I have to say you are the most arrogant person I have ever met. Perhaps in the end, it will be you lying there, not me."
"Hmph, then just wait and see!"
Xiao Fan gave Zhang Hao a cold look, turned around, and flew away.
Shi Jingtian also snorted coldly and flew away.
Song Xifeng apparently still had Dan being refined in the Dan room, so he quickly instructed Zhang Hao before leaving immediately.
After the few people left, Lan Haiping looked at Zhang Hao and said, "Young man Zhang, you really shouldn't have accepted Xiao Fan's challenge. His current strength, I also feel, is unfathomable. Even I, this Old man, have no certainty of winning against him."
"What? Dean, you are a Half-Step Martial Ancestor, and you have no certainty? Are you not joking?" Zhang Hao looked at Lan Haiping and said lightly.
Lan Haiping looked at Zhang Hao, shook his head, and said, "Young man, true geniuses are not judged by the strength of their cultivation. Do you know that Martial Warrior have spirit roots?"
Zhang Hao nodded and said, "I've heard of it, but I'm not very clear."
Lan Haiping said to Zhang Hao, "You also know that not everyone is suitable for cultivating martial arts. Those who can Cultivate have at least one spirit root. The strength of the spirit root represents the grade of the Genius. One to three spirit roots are just ordinary Martial Warrior. Four to five spirit roots are geniuses. Six or more are top-tier geniuses. And nine are peerless talents. And in our Northern Region, the number one Genius Xiao Long has nine spirit roots."
"Ah! Nine spirit roots?" Zhang Hao was slightly surprised.
"That's right. Every additional spirit root means that the Genius will have a cultivation speed double that of others. The reason Xiao Long can become a Half-Step Martial Ancestor at such a young age, and it is said he is now striving to reach the Wu Zong Realm to become the youngest Martial Grandmaster in history, is naturally because he has nine spirit roots," Lan Haiping said with a solemn expression.
"Then Xiao Fan, he..."
Zhang Hao looked at Lan Haiping's solemn expression and knew that he would never mention Xiao Fan without a reason. There was definitely something more to follow.
Lan Haiping looked at Zhang Hao and said, "Although Xiao Fan doesn't have nine spirit roots, he has eight spirit roots, which is also a peerless Genius. This means he has eight times the cultivation speed of an ordinary Martial Warrior. Don't you think that's terrifying?"
"With nine spirit roots, this Xiao Long should be the only one in the Northern Region," Zhang Hao sighed.
Lan Haiping shook his head and smiled, "That may not be the case. I heard that a peerless Genius with ten spirit roots has been discovered in the Northern Region."
"Ten spirit roots? Is that possible?" Zhang Hao was a bit incredulous.
"I only heard about it. It seems that peerless Genius is in the Heaven Sword Sect. It's a young girl from a small southern country," Lan Haiping said.
"Ah, Heaven Sword Sect?" Zhang Hao's expression changed dramatically.
This Murong Ziqian is from the Heaven Sword Sect. Could the person Lan Haiping mentioned be Murong Ziqian? Zhang Hao suddenly felt that this possibility was quite high.
Involuntarily, a peerless figure appeared in Zhang Hao's mind.
Lan Haiping on the side looked at Zhang Hao's somewhat melancholic and nostalgic expression and couldn't help but think to himself: Could this young man be involved with that girl? However, Lan Haiping quickly dismissed this idea. That girl was the treasure of the Heaven Sword Sect, rumored to be the candidate for the next Sect Leader of the Heaven Sword Sect. How could she be related to this young man?
Zhang Hao nodded slightly, just looking at Lan Haiping with some curiosity and asked, "Old man, how do you test these spirit roots?"
"It's very simple. You can roughly measure it with some spirit testing stones. By the way, your cultivation speed, in my opinion, is not much weaker than Xiao Long's. You should also have nine spirit roots, or at least eight," Lan Haiping said confidently, looking at Zhang Hao.
Zhang Hao chuckled awkwardly and said, "I don't know about this myself. Old man, if you have a way, could you test me too?"
Although the number of spirit roots had no impact on Zhang Hao, he was also curious about how many spirit roots he had. After all, when he was in Ninghai City, he was considered a small Genius. His spirit roots shouldn't be weak.
"It's simple. I, this Old man, have testing stones on me. It wouldn't hurt to test you," Lan Haiping quickly took out a fist-sized, blue stone from his pocket.
Lan Haiping smiled at Zhang Hao and said, "Just place your hand on this testing stone and input your True Qi. It's very simple."
Zhang Hao nodded and did as Lan Haiping instructed. He placed his hand on it and input his True Qi.
Soon, the testing stone began to glow, emitting colorful light. Lan Haiping stared intently at the testing stone with great anticipation.
Finally, the light on the testing stone dissipated, turning into a faint blue light. The light was very dim.
Zhang Hao looked at the originally colorful light, which had now become so dim, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. He looked at Lan Haiping and asked, "Old man, how is it? How many spirit roots do I have?"
Lan Haiping's expression was a bit incredulous. He looked at Zhang Hao with a strange look on his face.
Looking at Lan Haiping's strange and incredulous expression, Zhang Hao thought to himself: What kind of expression is this? Could it be that my spirit roots are beyond his imagination? Not just nine, but even ten, or a hundred?